Snapshot: Health Insurance: Can Californians Afford It?


 

Publication Date: May 2005

Publisher: California HealthCare Foundation

Author(s):

Research Area: Health

Type: Brief

Coverage: California

Abstract:

For minimum-wage workers and the chronically ill, the cost of health insurance is increasingly unaffordable and may not be providing the financial protection for which it is intended. But health insurance affordability issues are not isolated to those groups. The slides in this presentation compare health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket expenses to hourly wages and household spending across California and within six local areas. The results show the significant financial pressure that health care costs are putting on insured Californians. The report focuses on the small business and individual insurance markets, where the greatest number of uninsured Californians would get their insurance if they thought they could afford it.